DuncanF's review of Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley

I was very much looking forward to coming back to The Berkeley having eaten here a couple of times when Marcus Waring was still in the Ramsay camp. At the weekends, the menu choice is one of three tasting menus increasing in length (and price), optionally accompanied by the sommelier's choice of wines or fine wines. We choose the middle Menu Prestige at £105 (including cheese) with the matching wines at £85 (or £195 for the fine wines). The service was attentive and the food came at a welcome pace – we arrived at 1930 and left at 2330 – and we never felt hurried.

Now to the food. Given fond memories of Petrus – for a period I felt it bettered Restuarant GR – I came away underwhelmed. Whereas I can previously remember only harmonious combinations on the plates, here I felt that most dishes had a jarring element that felt out of place, or overpowered the main ingredient. The foie gras in the starter lost an unequal battle against a number of sweet elements (cherries and caramelised milk) and the sommelier delivered the coup de grace with a thick, linctus like red dessert wine from Greece. This theme of the sublime being smothered by something startling reared it's head in several courses: a wonderfully delicate quail drowned by the smoky molasses taste of white beans cooked “Boston Baked bean” style, and pink canon of lamb, minus any saucing but colliding with a ricotta like cheese dollop.

It was all beautifully executed but ultimately nowhere near the brilliance and balance I have seen from MW before, and I was dining a the old Petrus in St. James back in the 90's.

It seems that these days, in the quest for three stars, restaurants feel the need to combine elements best left apart (for good reasons!) in order to attract attention. I blame Blumenthal.